Optical projection systems generally require an illumination source to project an image. Xenon, metal halide, and mercury arc lamps are suitable light sources but they have poor efficiencies because most of the electrical energy is converted to heat and wasted prior to being used by the system. Light emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers are alternative light sources for optical projection systems because of their increased efficiency. Unlike emissions of an arc lamp, however, LED emissions are based on electron transition energy levels and therefore have relatively narrow range of wavelengths, while laser emissions are coherent (identical phase/frequency) and generate narrow beams in a narrow wavelength spectrum. Thus, to achieve broad-spectrum illumination from several narrow band sources, there exists a need to effectively combine LEDs and lasers within an optical projection system.